Wednesday, February 26
Bryan-College Station
6:00 PM
Texas A&M
20-8,9-6SEC
84
vs
86
Vanderbilt
19-9,7-8SEC
1
2
F
Vanderbilt
34
52
86
Texas A&M
32
52
84
Team Stats
VU
AM
FG%
.414
.371
3FG%
.417
.318
FT%
.778
.795
RB
36
44
TO
9
12
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
21
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
13
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballF/C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Wesley Bowers/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 12 Aggies’ Rally Falls Short vs. Commodores
Feb 26, 2025 | Men's Basketball
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – A late rally by the No. 12 Texas A&M men's basketball team fell short as the Vanderbilt Commodores held on for an 86-84 victory on Wednesday at Reed Arena.
The Aggies fell to 20-8 overall and 9-6 in SEC play with their third straight loss, while the Commodores tallied their second straight AP Top 25 win to improve to 19-9 and 7-8.
Facing a 10-point deficit with 3:33 remaining, the Aggies were able to whittle the deficit to two points at 86-84 with just over a second remaining. Texas A&M forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, but the Commodores thwarted the Aggies' desperation lob to the rim with 0.4 of a second left. The rally was powered by Zhuric Phelps with 11 points in the final minute and a couple of 3-pointers from C.J. Wilcher.
The Commodores were able to answer the Aggies' advances with timely 3-pointers and a 77.8% success rate at the free throw line. Led by Tyler Nickel's 7-of-10 effort from beyond the arc, VU hit 10 3-pointers at a 41.7% clip. At the line, the Commodores accumulated 28 points on 36 attempts.
Junior transfer Pharrel Payne led all scorers as he matched his season high with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while also tallying six rebounds. Wade Taylor IV scored 21 points, which included a 13-of-16 effort from the line, and dished out six assists. Phelps finished with 14 points with 11 coming in the second half. Rounding out the double-figure scorers was Wilcher, who chipped in 12 points as he matched his season high with four treys. Andersson Garcia reeled in 11 rebounds, while matching his season high with five off the offensive glass.
Texas A&M tallied its 16th game with 40+ rebounds with 44 total boards, including 18 from the offensive glass. The Aggies earned 39 trips to the free throw which they converted into 31 points. The Maroon & White logged their fifth straight game with 10+ assists with 15 dishes.
Postgame Notes
Postgame Quotes
Coach Buzz Williams
"I think we did good things, but too many tangible and intangible things also happened. We didn't hit our ceiling. We, that includes me, have to figure out how to hit our ceiling and the things that we can touch and the things that we can't touch. There can't be as much inconsistency as there has been over the past 10 days. Is it an outlier statistic? Is it this person on the opposing team, on our team, we are just not doing as good as a job we have proven that we can do. In those categories, what you would ask me from a stat sheet and what is important to how we operate. We've just been okay, and then a one possession game, regardless of opponent, regardless of record, regardless of location, we have to do better and I have to continue to find ways to execute those things at a much higher efficiency than what we've done in the last 10 days."
"We didn't do good enough, and credit to Vanderbilt. Huge win (for them) on Saturday and huge win (today) for their program. Their coaches have done an amazing job. We were just bad, and they were a part of making us not look good enough and credit should go to them."
Graduate Guard CJ Wilcher
On always finding a way to fight back in games...
"That is the character trait of our program. We've been in a lot of situations where we get down into the game. Having to continue to stay consistent in our foundation and our principles and being who we are. That's the testament to just our culture."
The Aggies fell to 20-8 overall and 9-6 in SEC play with their third straight loss, while the Commodores tallied their second straight AP Top 25 win to improve to 19-9 and 7-8.
Facing a 10-point deficit with 3:33 remaining, the Aggies were able to whittle the deficit to two points at 86-84 with just over a second remaining. Texas A&M forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, but the Commodores thwarted the Aggies' desperation lob to the rim with 0.4 of a second left. The rally was powered by Zhuric Phelps with 11 points in the final minute and a couple of 3-pointers from C.J. Wilcher.
The Commodores were able to answer the Aggies' advances with timely 3-pointers and a 77.8% success rate at the free throw line. Led by Tyler Nickel's 7-of-10 effort from beyond the arc, VU hit 10 3-pointers at a 41.7% clip. At the line, the Commodores accumulated 28 points on 36 attempts.
Junior transfer Pharrel Payne led all scorers as he matched his season high with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while also tallying six rebounds. Wade Taylor IV scored 21 points, which included a 13-of-16 effort from the line, and dished out six assists. Phelps finished with 14 points with 11 coming in the second half. Rounding out the double-figure scorers was Wilcher, who chipped in 12 points as he matched his season high with four treys. Andersson Garcia reeled in 11 rebounds, while matching his season high with five off the offensive glass.
Texas A&M tallied its 16th game with 40+ rebounds with 44 total boards, including 18 from the offensive glass. The Aggies earned 39 trips to the free throw which they converted into 31 points. The Maroon & White logged their fifth straight game with 10+ assists with 15 dishes.
Postgame Notes
- Wade Taylor IV took down the school record for career free throws with a flourish as he connected on 13 freebies to pass Bernard King's old mark of 488 accomplished from 1999-2003. Taylor's big night at the line put him at exactly 500 for his career making him the 23rd player in SEC history to reach the plateau and the first since Scottie Pippen Jr. in 2022.
- Taylor hit a pair of 3-pointers against Vanderbilt, raising his career total against conference opponents to 138 which is one shy of Josh Carter's record of 139 set from 2005-09.
- With 21 points tonight, Taylor raised his career total of 1,955, which is 35 points behind King's school scoring standard of 1,990.
Postgame Quotes
Coach Buzz Williams
"I think we did good things, but too many tangible and intangible things also happened. We didn't hit our ceiling. We, that includes me, have to figure out how to hit our ceiling and the things that we can touch and the things that we can't touch. There can't be as much inconsistency as there has been over the past 10 days. Is it an outlier statistic? Is it this person on the opposing team, on our team, we are just not doing as good as a job we have proven that we can do. In those categories, what you would ask me from a stat sheet and what is important to how we operate. We've just been okay, and then a one possession game, regardless of opponent, regardless of record, regardless of location, we have to do better and I have to continue to find ways to execute those things at a much higher efficiency than what we've done in the last 10 days."
"We didn't do good enough, and credit to Vanderbilt. Huge win (for them) on Saturday and huge win (today) for their program. Their coaches have done an amazing job. We were just bad, and they were a part of making us not look good enough and credit should go to them."
Graduate Guard CJ Wilcher
On always finding a way to fight back in games...
"That is the character trait of our program. We've been in a lot of situations where we get down into the game. Having to continue to stay consistent in our foundation and our principles and being who we are. That's the testament to just our culture."
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